Mingyu Kwak is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where he studies Management Engineering.

He developed an interest in North Korean human rights and inter-Korean relations during his service in the Republic of Korea Army. Serving as an infantry soldier and communications specialist along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Gangwon Province, he gained firsthand exposure to the realities of division on the Korean Peninsula through daily operational observation duties.

These experiences led him to reflect on the human dimension of the North-South divide and the conditions faced by individuals living in North Korea. While his academic background is in engineering and management, he is interested in contributing to interdisciplinary research efforts on human rights, particularly those that combine data-driven analysis with field-based perspectives.

At HRNK, Kwak supports research and monitoring work on North Korean human rights issues. He hopes to contribute to work that increases understanding of conditions in North Korea through rigorous and policy-relevant analysis.